Ashton Thomas Securities LLC Acquires 2,670 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Ashton Thomas Securities LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) by 17.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,670 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.3% of Ashton Thomas Securities LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $10,299,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. RHL Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Niles Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Bayban boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 100.0% in the first quarter. Bayban now owns 70 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

META stock opened at $556.71 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.41 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.97, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.25. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $520.26 and a twelve month high of $796.25. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $601.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $622.97. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Meta Platforms, Inc. last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The social networking company reported $6.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.19 by ($1.01). The company had revenue of $60.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.22 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 33.18% and a net margin of 29.83%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $7.14 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 7.63%.

Positive Sentiment: Meta’s core advertising business remains strong. Second-quarter revenue increased 28% year over year to $60.8 billion, while ad impressions, pricing, engagement and AI-powered recommendation tools continued to improve. Advantage+ advertising reportedly reached a $75 billion annualized run rate.

Positive Sentiment: Several analysts and investment commentators view the selloff as an opportunity, arguing that Meta’s advertising engine can fund its AI investments and that AI is already i...